[ RAINBOW BASKETBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Nevada's Kevinn Pinkney scores in front of Hawaii forward Paul Jesinskis during the first half of last night's game in Reno, Nev.
UH’s title
hopes dashedNevada puts Hawaii out
of contention of finishing atop
the final WAC standings
RENO, Nev. >> As the final seconds ran off the Lawlor Events Center scoreboard, the Hawaii basketball team saw its chances of sharing the Western Athletic Conference title dwindle to zero as well.
The Rainbow Warriors fell out of contention for first place in the WAC with a 77-64 loss to Nevada last night.
A frigid first half led to a double-digit deficit at halftime for UH. Although the Rainbows heated up in the second half, Nevada turned back each UH rally and sent it to its fourth consecutive road loss.
"We were able to make a run at them, but we didn't capitalize on the defensive end," UH guard Michael Kuebler said.
The loss dropped the Rainbows to 19-9 overall and 11-6 in the WAC.
Nevada stayed in the hunt for a share of the regular-season title by improving to 19-8 overall and 12-5. The Wolf Pack can claim a piece of the title with a win over San Jose State tomorrow and a loss by Texas-El Paso at Boise State.
For the second time in as many road games, the Rainbows fell behind in the first half before mounting a frantic comeback in the second only to fall short in the end.
The scenario was similar to UH's 71-62 loss at UTEP on Feb. 23, when UH trailed by 13 at halftime and saw a rally fall short.
Last night, the Rainbows, who shot 22 percent from the field in the first half and 61 percent in the second, cut a 15-point halftime deficit to seven late in the game. But they couldn't draw any closer.
"It's hard to come back when you dig yourselves a hole," Hawaii forward Jeff Blackett said. "We're a good team when we want to be. It's just that lately we've had some problems starting off. Hopefully we can take care of that before the (WAC) tournament."
Kuebler hit four 3-pointers in the second half and finished with a team-high 17 points. Center Haim Shimonovich had 11 points and seven rebounds, while Blackett and Phil Martin contributed 10 points each.
Nevada relied on the often spectacular play of Kirk Snyder and the clutch shooting of guard Todd Okeson to hold off each UH rally and avenge its 60-53 loss in Honolulu on Jan. 5.
Snyder scored a game-high 23 points and thrilled the announced crowd of 10,153 by elevating to eye level with the rim and throwing down three dunks in the second half.
"I wasn't shooting the 3s as much, so I wanted to get to the rim and finish real strong," Snyder said.
While Snyder's acrobatics wowed the fans, Okeson provided the momentum-turning baskets. After Hawaii cut the Nevada lead to 36-29 with 15:23 left in the game, Okeson drained a 3-pointer to push the lead to 10. He thwarted another UH run with a driving layup that put Nevada up 65-56 with 5:13 left.
The senior also hit all six free throws in the second half and finished with 18 points.
"Okeson took us apart there at the end of the game," UH coach Riley Wallace said.
The Wolf Pack shot 48 percent from the field and outscored UH 22-5 from the free-throw line.
Hawaii was held to one field goal in the final 11 minutes of the first half as the Wolf Pack outscored the Rainbows 17-4 in that span to take a 31-16 halftime lead.
The Rainbows were outrebounded 26-14 in the half and their point total was their second lowest in a half this season (13 vs. Fairfield).
"We're not working to get open, and our pickers weren't working to get them open," Wallace said. "It's a combination of everything breaking down. We just have to come out and play with more energy."
Nevada coach Trent Johnson called his team's defensive effort in the first half one of the Wolf Pack's best of the season.
"Considering who we played, it ranks right up there," Johnson said. "I thought we were a little tight on offense. We had some good looks that didn't go down, but I thought we really competed at the other end."
Nevada took its first lead at 12-10 on Okeson's driving layup with 11:56 left in the half and never trailed again.
While Hawaii struggled for any sense of rhythm offensively, the Wolf Pack warmed up with an 8-0 run that gave Nevada a 26-14 lead.
Snyder punctuated the half by working the clock down and hitting a pull-up jumper just before the buzzer.
The Rainbows came out firing to open the second half and cut the deficit to seven on a 3-pointer by Kuebler. But Nevada pushed the lead back to double digits and reclaimed control with another 8-0 run. Two steals led to breakaway dunks by Snyder, and a 3-pointer by Okeson gave Nevada a 51-34 advantage with 10:29 left.
The Rainbows rallied again and pulled to within seven twice in the final five minutes, but Okeson was there to turn the Rainbows back each time.
With the regular-season title now out of reach, the Rainbows will try to regroup in time for tomorrow's finale at Fresno State and next week's WAC tournament.
"We just have to go up there and take care of business," Blackett said. "The season's not over yet and we know we can play with any team in this conference."
WAC standings
Yesterday's results
Conference Overall W L Pct. W L Pct. UTEP 13 4 .765 22 5 .815 Nevada 12 5 .706 19 8 .704 Boise St. 11 6 .647 19 8 .704 Rice 11 6 .647 20 9 .690 Hawaii 11 6 .647 19 9 .679 Fresno St. 9 8 .529 13 14 .481 Louisiana Tech 8 9 .471 14 13 .519 SMU 5 12 .294 11 16 .407 Tulsa 4 13 .235 8 19 .296 San Jose St. 1 16 .059 6 21 .222
Nevada 77, Hawaii 64
Fresno St. 81, San Jose St. 76
Louisiana Tech 70, Rice 58
SMU 64, Tulsa 56
Tomorrow's games (All times Hawaii time)
Rice at SMU, 9 a.m.
UTEPat Boise St., 11 a.m.
Louisiana Tech at Tulsa, 3:05 p.m.
Hawaii at Fresno St., 5 p.m.
San Jose St. at Nevada, 5 p.m.
End regular season
Mar. 9-13
WAC tournament, at Fresno, Calif.
Nevada 77, Hawaii 64
Warriors (19-9, 11-6 WAC)
Wolf pack (19-8, 12-5 WAC)
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Martin 5 10 0 1 32 2 3 10 Shimonovich 4 11 3 4 28 7 3 11 Lee 3 7 0 0 27 2 3 17 Kuebler 6 14 0 1 37 4 3 17 Sensley 3 10 0 0 33 6 4 6 Zivanovic 0 0 0 0 4 1 0 0 Carter 1 2 0 0 13 0 2 3 Nash 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 Blackett 4 4 2 2 17 3 3 10 Jesinskis 0 2 0 0 5 1 0 0 TEAM 5 Totals 26 60 5 8 200 31 21 64
Key--fg: field goals; fga: field goals attempted; ft: free throws; fta: free throws attempted; min: minutes; reb: rebounds; a: assists; tp: total points.
fg fga ft fta min reb a tp Snyder 8 19 7 9 38 7 3 23 Okeson 5 12 6 6 35 2 2 18 Pinkney 3 6 3 5 28 8 1 9 Fazekas 3 7 4 4 26 7 0 11 Hill-Thomas 4 6 1 3 35 3 1 9 Kemp 0 1 0 0 7 0 1 0 Washington 3 3 1 2 19 7 3 7 Paul 0 0 0 0 12 0 3 0 TEAM 4 Totals 26 54 22 29 200 38 14 77
Halftime--Nevada 31, Hawaii 16.
3-point goals--Hawaii 7-15 (Kuebler 5-7, Carter 1-2, Lee 1-2, Martin 0-1, Sensley 0-3), Nevada 3-12 (Okeson 2-8, Fazekas 1-2, Snyder 0-2). Personal fouls--Hawaii 20, Nevada 14.
Steals--Hawaii 4 (Lee 2, Shimonovich, Sensley), Nevada 5 (Snyder 2, Okeson, Hill-Thomas, Kemp). Blocked shots--Hawaii 3 (Sensley 3), Nevada 5 (Snyder 2, Pinkney, Fazekas, Paul). Turnovers--Hawaii 10 (Blackett 2, Sensley 2, Martin 2, Carter, Shimonovich, Lee, Kuebler), Nevada 9 (Snyder 5, Pinkney 3, Paul). Officials--David Hall, Ruben Ramos, Duane Allen. Attendance--10,153.
